About layovers in other countries with pets

Question: Hi! thank you so much for your help! My boyfriend and I are both Canadians, but we were living in Israel for the last 6 months and we bought 2 Himalayian cats there. In November, we are going back to live in pet friendly Canada and of course we are bringing the cats with us. All the flights from Tel-aviv to Montreal have connections in the U.S or in Europe. So -- do we need to respect all the importation requirements of the country where the pet airline flights are connecting or only the importation requirements for Canada, as it is our final destination? The cats will be flying in the cabin with us. Thank you very much, Amlie

Great question! People are often confused about transiting through other countries with pets. As a general rule of thumb, as long as you are not spending more than 48 hours on the ground in the country you are connecting through, you do not need to have the import requirements fulfilled. So, for example, if your plane stops in Detroit, US for a couple of hours and then you fly on to Montreal, you won't need to fulfill the US requirements (which, it's worth noting, are pretty much the same as Canadian pet import requirements).

Good luck with your pet move! Let us know if we can help you in any way.